Constantin BRANCUSI (1876 - 1957) The First Step, ca. 1913, - Lot 5

Constantin BRANCUSI (1876 - 1957) The First Step, ca. 1913, Wood sculpture made in 1913 and destroyed in 1914. Photograph. Vintage silver print signed and dedicated by the author in ink on the back "Souvenirs bien affectueux à Mademoiselle Gravier. C. Brancusi". Another print of this image is in the collections of the Centre Pompidou, Paris. Height 26.5 - Width 18.9 cm Damage. Provenance : - Gilberte GRAVIER (born 1898), - Madeleine A. (b. 1924), her daughter, - By descent to the present owners. Bibliography : - Doïna Lemny, Brancusi. La sublimation de la forme, Snoeck, 2019, p. 103. - Doïna Lemny, Constantin Brancusi. La chose vraie, ed. Gourcuff Gradenigo, Romanian Cultural Institute, 2022, p. 78. "After exhibiting this sculpture at the Photo Secession's "Gallery 291" in New York in 1914, Brancusi eventually destroyed the body - for him too imbued with African influence - and kept only the head, which he lay down." Doïna Lemny, Brancusi, La chose vraie, Gourcuff Gradenigo, 2022.